Issue link: https://catalog.e-digitaleditions.com/i/993527
167 M egan Gustafson is just a small town girl living in a Hawkeye world. And she's going somewhere. e junior center on the University of Iowa women's basketball team was the student-athlete speaker at the athletic department's all-staff meeting May 9 in the Feller Club Room inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Less than two months earlier, the basketball season ended for Gustafson and the Hawkeyes aer winning 24 of 32 games. She led all NCAA Division I players in points per game (25.7) and field goal percentage (67.1); Gustafson was third with 28 double-doubles and fih with 12.8 rebounds per game. "To this day, the people who I am surrounded by constantly push me to be the best version of myself, both on and off the court," Gustafson said. "Once I made my decision to come here, I could not wait to be a Hawkeye. Looking back, it was quite an adjustment since I originally came from a high school graduating class of 11 and now I have about 5,241 classmates." Gustafson is from Port Wing, Wisconsin, (population less than 150) and her first few months on a Big Ten Conference campus were spent like a "deer caught in headlights." "But I was eager to soak in every second and learn as much as I could," she said. She thought her childhood dream of being a chief executive officer could be expedited by attending the University of Iowa's Tippie College of Business. An Academic All-Big Ten selection, Gustafson is majoring in marketing and finance with a minor in psychology. "In terms of academics, I found my extremely diverse pathways as a business student," Gustafson said. "I have had determined, funny, reliable, and amazing professors who have set me up for success as I move forward into my final year. e University of Iowa means the world to me. I could not have imagined finding any other school that would have taken me in as a very small town girl (and then) care about me each and every day." Honors have been aplenty for Gustafson on the court, an All-American who was named Big Ten Conference Player of the Year and unanimous first-team all-conference. rough her first three seasons (99 games), Gustafson has scored 1,803 points with 979 rebounds and 169 blocked shots. With a season to play, she sits second on Iowa's all- time list in rebounds, fourth in blocked shots, and sixth in scoring. "I have learned and refined so many different lessons, such as hard work, doing things the right way, and how incredibly empowering it is to be a woman and more specifically a female student- athlete," Gustafson said. "Being able to play in front of an electric crowd every week is surreal and something I will never forget. Iowa has given me friendships that will last a lifetime both in and outside of my team." Gustafson will participate in an internship this summer with MidWestOne Bank in Iowa City, learning about investment and commercial banking as well as credit analysis. "Aer this, I believe I will have a better grasp and understanding of my career options," she said. But before a future in business, there will be a future in basketball. Gustafson intends to explore options to continue playing aer college.